Vitali Klitschko is free to make an optional defense of the WBC heavyweight title rather than be forced into a mandatory defense against former titlist Oleg Maskaev after the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport sided with him in binding arbitration on Friday."We won the case. Vitali doesn't have to fight Maskaev," Klitschko advisor Shelly Finkel told spam.com from Germany, where he is attending brother Wladimir Klitschko's defense of his version of the title against Ruslan Chagaev on Saturday. "It gives us the opportunity to fight anyone we want. Vitali is a very happy person right now."After two days of hearings last week and closing statements on Monday, the CAS ruled Friday.

Klitschko returned from a nearly four-year retirement to stop Samuel Peter in October to regain the title and made his first defense March 21 against mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Gomez, knocking him out in the ninth round.Even before that bout, the WBC had ordered that the winner of Klitschko-Gomez must face Maskaev next. That ruling was made even though Maskaev was a dubious mandatory challenger. He was not the WBC's No. 1-ranked fighter, he had been knocked out by Peter in the sixth round of a lopsided fight to lose the title in March 2008, and his two wins since that loss had come against extraordinarily weak opposition.The ruling opens the door for Klitschko to set up a fall title defense against the opponent of his choice. One of the leading candidates is American Cris Arreola, whom Klitschko would fight in Los Angeles. It's a fight HBO has high interest in, and it's a match Arreola wants."We're ready to fight Klitschko, but it has to make business sense," Arreola promoter Dan Goossen said. "From the aspect of the fighting part, Arreola wants it, we want it, everyone wants it. On the other side of the coin, it has to make sense. It's a big, big fight."Two other potential candidates are former cruiserweight champion David Haye of England, who was scheduled to fight Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday but withdrew a couple of weeks ago because of a back injury, and titleholder Nikolai Valuev of Russia.

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David Haye on Klitschko:"All I need is a ring and a ref who can count to ten"

Vitali beat his mandatory Juan Carlos Gomez in March and normally you have 12 months before you have to make another mandatory defense. Yet in their wisdom the WBC tried to force a 2nd mandatory on Vitali and told him he had to fight Oleg Maskaev next.

Maskaev has done little to deserve another shot let alone become the mandatory.

Who will Vitali face? Arreola or Haye seem the most likely candidates.

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David Haye on Klitschko:"All I need is a ring and a ref who can count to ten"

Vitali beat his mandatory Juan Carlos Gomez in March and normally you have 12 months before you have to make another mandatory defense. Yet in their wisdom the WBC tried to force a 2nd mandatory on Vitali and told him he had to fight Oleg Maskaev next.

Maskaev has done little to deserve another shot let alone become the mandatory.

Who will Vitali face? Arreola or Haye seem the most likely candidates.

A fight against Maskaev as a mandatory would have been rediculous, even though it still may end up happening somewhere down the line.

Boente has still been making positive noises about Haye meeting Vitali which I would love to see over here, although that is slightly wishful thinking. With HBO interested I can see a fight with Arreola in the States as a real possibility due to the money that may be on offer.

Thank God sanity has prevailed and this is another Victory for Boxing fans.My gut tells me that Vitali will take on Arreola at teh Staples Centre and they might just put it on PPV.This might be a shock to some,but the fact is Arreola is Mexican and no Mexican has ever won the Heavyweight Title.So Promoters could hype up that fact and hope to draw in Mexican buys for this Historic bout.So It makes sence to try it on PPV,rather just on regular HBO.So I feel Vitali will see it as another easy payday in the US before taking on Haye in Europe.